I bought it from Randy Whitmore in Waukegan IL, I don’t remember if his brother had the other one or not but they did work hand in hand a lot or so I was told. It still had the Illinois wrecker license plate #3 on it.
Randy had bought a new Holmes hydraulic of some kind.
I copied that picture from the book Old School Wreckers

The trailer was full (right at the 80K GVW) and no one available to unload for a day or two even then they were only looking to get about 40% of the oil off loaded, the passenger side outter skin was severely damaged when it fell in the snow.
With the help of another company and some more damage to the trailer skin it was uprighted full and towed to the shop.
Ed Barker said:
Good job John,nice to see you working with the other fellers,we do that here with a couple of companies ,but only a couple of them ,around here there is just a lot of mistrust ,we give them one shot and if it bites us ,we don't play that game with them again,,,,,,,anyhow glad to see it is working for you that's the way it should be. Anxious to see when you get some paint on that truck,that will be a very nice unit.Stay safe out there.
Auto Rescue said:
I went out about 9PM last night and did a quick survey and tried a pull with both my pete's then left it for day light so the underbelly did get some fresh snowfall on it.
The initial plan was a company was coming out about 9ish or so in the morning to do some unloading but they never showed up in the mean time the county road commission came by with a road grader with a V plow on it and cleared it out as you see in the photo.John R.
Da Wash Boss said:
it looks cold!!!!!!!!!!! what a great job i dont miss them days and nights i like being able to be selective. If i feel like going out we go if not we dont go but i do pass the call on to another towing company who likes the business. Customer service will always be provided by us here.
great job out there and nice pics.
Danny Cassello, East Hartford, CT
Westlake Towing said:
Brrrrrrrrr. Boy does it look cold, though one time during the summer we had a fuel truck on its side and the scene looked simular, fire dept covered the area with foam. Now I remember why I moved to Virginia from South Dakota, looks like a job well done.
michael212 said:
Brrrrrr...... is right! Nice teamwork John!
Thanks for sharing.
Auto Rescue said:
Have you ever heard "I swerved to miss a deer", well in this case even if there were no snow and it went onto the sandy edge of the road the result would have been the same, this puppy wanted to lay back over even after it was uprighted once the tension on the straps were released, the tail end strap mantained tension until the tractor drive tires were up on the road.John R.
drewmel said:
Yes the "I swerved to avoid a deer" Heard that one about a year and a half ago. Fully loaded tanker 9,000 gallons of gasoline, yeah it was not pretty. Foam all over made for interesting working conditions. Good job, looks a lil cold, but still were able to do a professional jon, Well Done!
-Andy
CASPER1 said:
Nice job and pics.Jimmy R. Collins Jr.
Casper's Body Shop & Wrecker Service LLC
Mr Waialae Chevron said:
Hit the deer! And have a little venison afterwards, instead of an overturned truck.
Plus it adds credibility to the claim.
Here's to mud in your eye.
Barney
Auto Rescue said:
State of Michigan you swerve to avoid hitting a deer and have a wreck you pay your deductable, if you have proof of the deer like deer hair embedded in the car you do not pay the deductable, go figure
Since they were some distance from me I left my little pete back in town to cover what I needed to do in town and called for the assistance with this, as I said they the oil company were supposed to have a truck to unload about 1/2 the oil then said they could not get one. They showed up this morning to with a tanker to unload for an "hour" at 9:15, they got off 3000 gallons and left at 2:45, and they'll be back in the morning for the rest. The bottom picture shows my driveway with the truck being unloaded
The truck was going to a local mine where they had taken all the regular oil out the day before and were bringing in synthetic oil to replace it with so the mine was out of oil and $83000.00 worth of oil was in this tanker.
The insurance adjuster drove up from down state for first thing this morning also, he said the Mi. dept of Natural Resources has contacted them already about the incident, but no spill means no problem but the DNR is still going to dig up the area in question, I wonder what the bill would be for that?
itowu06 said:
nice recovery!! I did not see any placards though, what type of oil was it loaded with?
Ray, Abilene,Texas
danielswt said:
around here there is alot of hot oil transported without placard's. idont remember exactly what the reason was but they didnt need them.
Auto Rescue said:
Synthetic gear lube, the article in the newspaper said it was not a hazadous item, MDOT was on scene in the morning and had no problem with it and in response to my question about them doing a DOT inspection on it "it was not involved in anything so no" which in all honesty I felt was a good call.
Heavytowman12 said:
John nice recovery. I know what that Atlas can do . That rig did many recoveries when it was a TED'S unit. Looking at the conditions does make me a little ill though. That white stuff does that to me for some reason. Keep up the good work!
pttowguy said:
Great job & pics John! Those tankers all seem to have the need to shed their skin after being rolled over...lol.

I know that Pete was built new as a tow truck. It started life in Rockford, Illinois. It belonged to a company called Ed's towing if remember right. He had a Phillips 66 station as I recall. If I remember right, he passed away and his wife sold the big trucks to Zips. He had a twin to that one that I believe Ed's Towing, Team Ed's, that is a member on here owns or use to own. He also had an International 4300 single axle with a 750 on it also. I do not know where that went to. They were a two tone blue or blue and white as I recall.

Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in August of 2005:
i'm trying to back up a drive and i'm a lil stuck, can you send me a 18 wheeler wrecker? wasnt the first and sure it will not be the last time we get that request.
get to the scene and this is what we find.
no way around the truck, has whole drive blocked, loaded with 35 tons of sand, trying to back it up a 6 foot wide road up to a water tank so they can sandblast it. dont like using pinetrees (with all the rain we have had lately) for a deadman but thats all we had, tried just using 1 heavy, but way too much weight, used another heavy to help with the pull up the hill. used one line to get a low pull from our 70/35 the other line to the tree and back up to a strap going over the trailer to keep it from rolling over, backed the second truck up and hooked a line to tree and back to bottom of trailer, lots of patience and moving it a little at a time finally got it up the hill where we could hook to the tractor and nose it back down

1981 GMC
454 CID motor 4X4
Holmes 440 with wheel lift
while it was my only non Ford small unit it really out did itself in the performance department, this was stuck on the rocks completely under water.

I found a few more images from 2006:
Auto Rescue said:
Can't afford new so I guess a little color change will have to do
With so much corrosion around the seams from the factory prep work there was no choice but to go all the way down to the metal.
The battery box and fuel tank will be maroon also, while the L arm boxes under the main tool boxes will stay black. The rest of the trim work on the tail board and light bar still need to be reinstalled. We start on the other side this week and the cab will get redone shortly but that depends on the weather and work load.
Maybe I better start taking pictures outside except it was raining today.
black reflective tape stands out pretty good in the dark with snow.

2003 KW T 800 with a Century 5130. Aluminum 182”CA Modular Body, Tailboard and wired remote,
This one has 845k for miles but you would never know by the condition and appearance.
This unit has a nice long wheelbase makes this a great unit for Towing and Recovery unit.
Runs and Drives Great, come check it out but don’t wait too long, at under $90,000 it won’t be around long.

Lest we forget them on the long road home
The tow operator stood and faced his Maker, which must always come to air.
He hoped his chains were left behind and he hadn't brought them on to bare.
"Step forward now, wrecker driver how shall I deal with you?"
Have you always rendered aid? To your Maker, have you been true?
The tower, with dirt on his hands, said "No sir, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who drive wreckers can't always be a saint.
I've had to work most Sundays and at times my talk was rough,
and sometimes I've taken people cars, because life is just that tough.
But I never took a penny, that wasn't mine to keep.
Though I logged a lot of hours when the bills just got too deep.
And I never passed by a cry for help though at times I had little to gain,
and sometimes, please forgive me, I could do little more than feel their pain.
I know I don't deserve a place among the people here.
They only wanted me around in their worst of moments there.
But if you have a place for me here, well...it need not be too grand.
I never expected or had too much so if you don't...I'll understand."
There was silence all around the room where the saints respectfully stood.
As the tow operator waited quietly, for the judgment...bad or good.
"Step forward now, wrecker driver, you've borne your burdens well.
Come tow on heaven streets, You've done your time in hell."

I participated in the T.O.W.E.D. program several years. It's all about marketing and the program itself is flawed badly. It's worthiness just does not equal the negative aspects of dealing with drunks. Tow Truck Operators rarely deal with intoxicated persons in relation to a tow and are not properly trained to do so. But, yet they are thrown out there to provide this public service. I have numerous stories about these type of tows which went wrong. may companies no longer offer the service as the marketing value has depleted. Any thought's

Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com
Mike Wood, of Budget-Stadium Towing, adds a memorial decal to a tow truck for his colleague Nader Chehadi, of Ypsilanti, who was killed after an SUV crashed into a disabled bus he was assisting on the shoulder of I-94 in Pittsfield Township. Tanya Moutzalias, MLive.com Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com
ANN ARBOR, MI – Nader Chehadi will not be forgotten if his colleagues can help it.
One year after his death while servicing a disabled school bus on the side of I-94, Chehadi’s coworkers at Ypsilanti’s Budget and Stadium Towing are honoring him with a “Light up the Night” memorial procession.
It’s set to roll through the streets of Washtenaw County Wednesday, May 29, to remind motorists to watch out for disabled vehicles. The procession is expected to be attended by towing companies throughout southeast Michigan, organizers said.
Accompanied by a police escort, the procession will leave the company’s lot at 876 Railroad St. around 6 p.m. and make its way to the stretch of I-94 near State Street where Chehadi was struck and killed a year ago on May 29.
“We’re hoping to use this sad occasion to memorialize (Chehadi) and remind people to slow down and move over when they see a vehicle on the side of the road,” Amanda Foster, a Budget and Stadium Towing employee, said.
Chehadi, 42, of Ypsilanti, was killed when an SUV crashed into a disabled school bus on the shoulder of eastbound I-94 near State Street in Pittsfield Township.
The driver charged for killing Chehadi, Andre-A Edwards, 26, of Ann Arbor, was bound over for trial following an emotional preliminary examination this week on Thursday, May 23.
She faces 19 felony charges, including murder, associated with the fatal crash.
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